It was the year council tax was introduced and Irvine Welsh's novel Trainspotting landed on bookshelves.
Rangers beat Aberdeen 2–1 to win the Scottish Cup, Nelson Mandela greeted the crowds in George Square and Glasgow Polytechnic and Queen's College combined to create Glasgow Caledonian University.
In 1993, students applying to study for a Master of Arts (MA) degree in English at the University of Glasgow, one of its most popular subjects, were almost guaranteed a place if they got four B's in their Highers.
Thirty years on, applicants hoping to study the same subject should be prepared to dig a little deeper into their school textbooks.
Fifth and sixth-year pupils would now be expected to get five A grades at Higher to matriculate for the course at one of Scotland's oldest universities.
Data obtained by The Herald shows how admissions criteria has changed over the past three decades amid a radically changed higher education landscape.
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The introduction of free tuition fees, rising school attainment and efforts to widen participation have led to a significant rise in pupils going to university.
Hansard records show that in 1989, when fees were means tested, just over 5% of school leavers went on to higher education, that figure now stands at around 45%.
School leavers applying to study law at Glasgow in 1993 would have been expected to get four A Higher Grades and a B. They would now be looking at two more Highers at the top grade.
At St Andrew's University, traditionally the hardest institution to get into in Scotland and the alma mater of the Prince of Wales, the "asking rate" for an MA was also four Bs at Higher in 1993.
The standard entry requirement for an MA in English is now AAAAB.
Figures obtained by Freedom of Information laws also show that the university had 762 applications in 2022/2023 and of those made 288 offers.
Of those, 58 were Scottish-domiciled.
While choices for school leavers are now wider than ever before, University remains an attractive proposition according to the latest data from admission service UCAS.
A report published earlier this year confirmed that applications to Scottish universities have increased by 2% compared with pre-pandemic levels. 2,600 additional applicants.
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There are predictions that the number of university students across the UK will reach one million in two years, amid sustained efforts to widen participation.
In 2014, former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon declared an ambition that every child, irrespective of socioeconomic background, should have an equal chance of getting to university.
Most universities now take a pupil's family circumstances into account when allocating places, with adjusted offers.
The University of Glasgow has led efforts to widen participation and runs a Top Up scheme that offers support to final-year school pupils to prepare them for exams and higher education.
The think tank Reform Scotland has argued that a cap on the number of Scottish Governments due to a set amount of funding to cover tuition fees has made it more difficult for home-domiciled students to get into universities.
However, Duncan Mackay, Senior Public Affairs and Communications Officer at Universities Scotland does not believe this is linked to stricter admissions policies.
"There's probably not one explanation," he says.
"I don't necessarily think it's related to the cap as such although we are not involved in the admissions process.
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"The higher education sector of 1993 is completely different to what it is in 2023.
"In 1993 the number of people going to university would have been significantly smaller.
"You are just at the point where places like Napier and Glasgow Caledonian are becoming universities.
"There has been a vast improvement in attainment at school level. We see that every year and that's due to investment in teaching," he added.
Mr Mackay said some universities might opt to increase entry qualifications if money has been invested in a particular faculty or teaching.
Entry requirements at the University of Edinburgh are broadly in line with Glasgow.
In 1993, pupils who achieved ABBB at Higher were almost guaranteed a place on an MA English Literature degree course.
That course now stipulates that pupils should have five A grades, preferably by the end of fifth year.
To study law in 1993, pupils were required to get AAABB at first sitting, including maths and science.
He said the areas where students come from to attend university had also "massively expanded."
He said: "In 1993, it was maybe isolated to small parts of Scotland. Now you can have virtual open days and it's potentially not as scary as it once was to move somewhere different.
"If they have only got 50 places and there is a 1000 applicants, how do you differentiate?
"What we hear from admissions officers is that assessments are made based on [a pupil's] potential.
"If it comes down to that there is one place and a student from Bearsden Academy has four Bs and another from Drumchapel has four Bs - they will see that the pupil achieving four Bs from Drumchapel is more of an achievement but there would hopefully be room within the cap that they could accept both of them."
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